Glass polishing apparatus



May 16, 1933. w. o. AMsLER 1,909,902

GLAS S POLI SHING APPARATUS Filed Feb. l, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ma*j ww L :J1/wanton Walter O. Ams/ele w. o. AMsLER 1,909,902

May 16, 1933.

GLASS POLISHING APPARATUS Filed' Feb. 1, 1926 4 sheets-sheet 3 WC1/ter C/Ims/ep gh 620i@ 9! u l awww May 16, 1933. w. o. AMsLl-:R

GLASS POLISHING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. l, 1926 m. .m .n n k. V s e m WM A UN,0 f .r ,i. (mw Wa J. Illy] w M A@ E. url /v uli n A 7 0 A@ l ww w DI M, mi@ m@ n Y? 1 m@ m@ 1 1 @mv @ma @@w/ A w Wm w w 5. l

Patented May 16, 1933 UNITED 5120511125 WALTER o. vor Torrano, omo, Assro'rNoRv 'rofsnvrrrinx EN'QmEERmG COMRANY, .or WASHINGTQN, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE' `amiss :soL'IsHING APPARATUS A` Application filedVV February 1, 71926. Serial No. 85',318. V

My invention relates to apparatus for polishing glass. More `particularly,'myV invention relates to apparatus by whichv glass is polished. While it isbeing continuously `ad-V vanced. The essential yfeatures, as well as improved details, of `my. invention, will appear as` the description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure l is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view of a portion of one form ofapparatus embodying my Vinvention; Fig.` 2 is a View substantially on the line 2 2, Fig. 1;, Fig. 3 is a plan View of an alternative form of apparatus for polishing glass Fig. 4 is. afsection on the line 44 of Figs. 3 and 5; Fig. 5 is a partial longitudinal section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, particular ly showing the means for conveying the glass gl, Figs. 6, 7 8. and 9 are diagrammatic views indicating theY grinding action of different arrangements of runners.

Referring first to, the apparatusy shown in Figs.V l and 2, it will belnoted that a sheet of glass is supported upon a series4 of traveling tables'2l, supported by wheels 22. run.- ning uponxtracks, 23.. The tables;may be provided on their underside with Vracks 24 adapted to4 be engaged by oneor more driving gears 25' operated inany suitable manner. y In this way the glass is propelled continuously along al path longitudinal thereof. A series. of carriers 26 is providedV above thel path of the glass.` Each. carrier 26' has attachedto each side thereofv a series of boxes 27 througli` which pass vertical shafts 28.

The lower end of each shaft 28` is provided with a polishing runner 29, while a weight 30', substantially yof the same weight as the runner is attached .to the upper end of each shaft and' the. distancel oi the weight from box 27 is substantially eqiial toI the Vdistance of the, runner from the` box. Y

0n the twosides oftf the path ofthe iglassV there. are supporting4 me1nbers31, Each carrier 26fl'1asa slide.. operating a slide.-

way 34 at one end, and has albori .35.sur-

rounding a wrist pin 36 on a driving disk `37 at `the other end. I Successive carriers 26 are operated from opposite ends. v y

. Inthedrawings-thereis shown a motor 38 connected by a sprocket chain39 to a sprocket wheel 40 ona shaft 4l. parallel with the path of movement of the glass. Each endet` theshaft 4lisl provided with av bevel gear 42 meshing `with a gear 43 on the lower end of Aan upright shaft 44. The upper end of each shaft 44 is provided with a gear 45 meshing with teeth 46 Vupon a crank disk 37.- In the construction shown,l each crank disk 37 iis providedwith a flange 47,which overlies its teeth and aids in keeping'dust 4ori grit'l from entering between the teethp Both bevel gears 43 ona shaft 41 may mesh with the sides of adjacent gears 43 nearest to sprocket wheel 40.y f In this case the two disks 37 driven `from a motor 38 will turn in opposite directions. AShaft 41 may bey continued past the center of one wheel 43, and the cooperating gea-r 42 maymesh with the sideA of that gear 43 farthest from sprocket wheel 40,.'m

which case disks 37 driven from amotor 38 sirable construction for lthis purpseis shown in Figs.- liland 2. According to this construction va pipe 48 entends longitudinally of each runner 29 above the polishing runners and between the rows'thereof. YThere are downwardly directed dischargefnozzles 49 at intervals along this pipe.. `Thepipe is Asupplied witha liquid, carryin-grouge or other desired polishing material, througha alsYV another form of flexible pipe leading from any suitable source of supply.

I prefer to introduce a check valve 51 .at the end of pipe 48 between that pipe and 1ts source of supply. The valve is so constructed as to allow free passage of the materlal into pipe 48, but prevent the return of the material to pipe 50.

Preferably, guards or troughs 52 are attached to the frame on each side of the path of table 21 and extend under the edge of the table so as to catch the polishing or abrasive material dropping from the edge of the table. Troughs 52 .may Ybe flushed out, and the material.V caught vin them returned for further'use, if desired. V

In the apparatus shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, olishing device is shown. In these figures, t ere are polishing runners 53 supported upon the lower end of shafts y54, journalled in boxes 5.5, on carriers 56,

the shafts being pressed downward by weights 57.` So far as this portion of the structure is concerned, it is similar'to that shown in Fig. 2. yHowever, instead of being driven from one end only and sliding in a guideway at the other end, carriers 56 are carried by wrist pins 58, one at each end thereof. Wrist pins 58 extend-upward from gear wheels 59 which rotate simultaneously and in the same direction, so that each box '55 yis moved continuously in a circular path. In the lconstruction shown in Fig. 3, gears 59 are connected by means of idlers 60. Where one idler is interposed between each pair-,of wheels 59, it isV clear that all of the 'wheels 59 will rotate' in the same direction. For some purposes it is desirable for successive wheels 59 to operate vin opposite directions, kso as to balance the strain exerted thereby, in which case two idlers would be used rbetween each pair o-f wheels 59; but ordinarilythenstructure shown is preferable. Itwill be seen that adjacent carriers are carriedfon relatively opposite sides of their operatingr gears, so that they are always moving in opposite directions.

In this construction there is a series 1 of tables l'simil'ar to tables 21. These tables are supported by wheels 62 running upon tracks 63. Racksy 64 are attached to the undersides of the tables, the racks being engaged by a gear wheel 65 which meshes with a gear 66 upon a transverse shaft 67 driven from any suitable source of power.

*Y In this construction the idlers might bey omitted and the alternate pairs of wheels 59 -'driven inthe same manner as disks 37 shown l, in Fig. 1; but in that case it would be practically necessary to drive each pair of alternate gears 59 through means directly connecting with'thedriving means for the corresponding gears at the other ends of the 'respective carriers, as it is absolutely necessary that the two gears 59 at the opposite ends ofany carrier shall rotate in unison. In the construction shown, one transverse shaft 68 is driven from any suitable source of power. This shaft 68 carries two bevel gears 69, one on each side of the path of the glass. This shaft is conveniently located beneath rails 63. The bevel gears 69 mesh with gears 70 on the lower ends of shafts 71. The shafts 71 carry on their upper ends the gears 59 connected with a carrier 56. In thisway these gears 59 are directly driven in unison, and from these gears 59 as long a train of gears 59 with intermediate idlers may be driven as is considered desirable. .l l l The general operation of the apparatus will be readily understood from theabove disclosure. The glass is moved slowly beneath the polishing devices, which operate upon it in succession. It will bey readily ob* served that a considerable portion of the surface of the glass is subjected to rubbing at any given time. The rapidity 'with which the carriers 26 can be moved is appreciably increased by having the weights 30 above the carriers substantially counterbalance the runners 29 below the carriers, so that there is compara'- tively little tendency for the carriers to be tippedl out of position." VThe rapidity with vwhich the operating disks may berevolved is'limited by the strain Vexerted thereon in changing the direction of movement ofthe carriers. Inasmuch as the rubbing of the runners upon the glass'reduces themomentum' of the carriers, ythe rotation of disks V37 may be more rapid than would be advisable if there were no glass in contact with the runners. y

The operation results in moving'. the runnersvin all directionsracross the glass, and thereby avoids streaks due to the peculiarities of any particular runner. Furthermore, as each'l runner is moved at each revolution of the operating disk 37 a distance greater than the diameter ofthe runner, the same grinding powder is not retained under a runner, a feature which assists in the uniform polishing of the glass.

While the polishing material may be applied to the `glass in other ways, the method indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 has advantages. It will be noted that when carrier 26 moves to the left, as viewed in Fig. 2, the contents of pipe 48 will be given momentum to the left. When the carrier reaches the positionv shown in Fig. 2, the contents of pipe 48 tends to tents et eine e8 tends to. iii-ove to' the right nioie teniet y then the nine This will elose .eheek tolte el, one Aiesnt in entre; niessiiee one the noeeies et the eight enel oi eine e8,- ln this wey entre Presente .is bnought, to heee iiiion 'the eontents; of eine 4.8. in .iiist one end onelf then in. .the other end thereof., whieh .eiloelizes the flow troni .the seteiel notities enel et the .sonne tinietenils to pievent their lieeoining eloggeii. linitheiinoee, this ieein: .ioeoting inov'einent. of eontents of. eine te moy loe oseel. to essist in pninping nioterielinto the pipe through iieieihle. eonneetion on.

When snoh eoolishing devine is operated nt the lnioni,iniiin Permissible. speed., the gloss heooines heeteoi- It sevenol eonseentine een ifiens, iiene sten ed or teinoveti., et the seine tithe., this wonlel) ollow en expositie oi e oonsieleiohle .length of. hosted. gloss, ond. inight result. in. ininiions teinpeiotoie `ehenges.- When. lthe onneiotns. is eonstineteii in oeoorflenoe iwith.. the disolosnne of Eig 1,. the Carriers 26 driven from ons, motor 387mg@ be, .stopped ond the sentiers eeinoved to ineke nny neeessniyreneiis without `interferingwith thev oltennntely Ploeeil. ooeriers 2.6- In this iiefy only eoinnnrotively short Portions.v of the glessfeie nneoreied, Whioh isis distinet od.- V'ontoge from. the stentinoint of maintaining the teineeietnie otthe gloss approximately u niforrnl e p It is neoesseiy to eontinne the Apolishing of n sheet Qi 'gloss nntil it. issniiieiently polished et ,1.11, points oeioss its widthi li it. heeonnes polished ot. one plone, in its widthhefoee Pol.- ishing'is ooinplietedf et tinothen plete in its width., there is no eonvenient. wey in whieh the neeessnrypolishing tneyoe Completed Withoutat the same tingle, (snorting ein, equal einonnt oi nnneeessoity polishing noon. the olieedy Polished noitions. this. teoson it is e geest etitfentege to so. ottengo theJ nolishing tleifieesthst, the polishing is, `soin- Pleteol ot ell Points throiigrhont, the width of the sheet it snhstentiolly the seine tinne- Fig. o. shows iiis,geeinniot.ioellyy the polishingf etieet. of the, eiiengeinentot eposietns shown in Figi. llin this fig-nie the sides, of the gloss sheet` ere indieeteii et, 75, end iti The eno inn-.ners ore, nioveel tetons theV edges 7n' ond. 7h et Genthin. times, lont, when thisA is done the weight. of the entire; irnnnernests noon tti-ot Portion. isz-hielois.. sonnette@ bythe shoot. As tho polishing action. isi directly` in Proportion tothe Weight. pnessing the snr fnoes together, this nesnlts in lenten eohloing noon thel edges of the-sheet Whieh lorgely ounteibilllance'tlistiinfvghen..thernnnors eine inoved the opposite direetionso thet,x the-.v donot rest upon tho odge: of the shoot, Whom the spoed Of motion, of the. run:- nets is oonsifieeefl, so, tin-et. thein polishing netionY is eeennoteiy .eolenlnte i,. it, is, diseovered, thotthein Polishingeffeot neoyloe, indioetleili los? the.- 'sheiieblr` Position t?? shown, on

Figi The gieotest ernennt of polishing will resulten e oetion of the sheet between Points 78 enti 79 inelieeteel Fig-r 6, lont it Will he seen thotthese points. .do not extendvery foe beyond .the line .SQ Whioh represents the leest eti-.nennt ot ,polishing noon. any .portion of the gloss.T othenfwo'nds, the ditionenoe between the polishing eifeotof the one pointus diegininnintieelly indieeted in Fig: 6 noon-the Central notion of the gloss ond the eelge noetiensof the'gless .indieoted by the eoinioneetive. olisteiinoeY between the bottom niet of shaded. portion tif-ond the line between point 7e enel. 79 on one hondl andthe line 80.011 the othot heini, i f

Figs., 7, 8 enel t! one diagrammatic indican tiene 0f other possible. arrangements. of Polishing deeieos, with diagramma-tical in.- @ieotion of the nolishingeifeet thereof, In Fg,'7 @1gol shaded portion 81 represents the polishing etieet of one longe runner v8.2 .cov-` ering tho entire vshoot, and lapping slightly beyond its, edges, It will be seen that the polishingeiiootelong the center line .83 os ieniesenteel hy vthe dierenee between points @fiend 8,5, is inore than twice the. polishing eifeetst the edges of the .sheet as represented by the dit-Eereneo between. points .8.6 and 8.7'. This` nrrongeinent moy be improved. to Sonie eXtent leyusingy the, additional. sinoil ruin' nets 88 enel. 89. indiented dotted' lines,

wlieli niodnoe. the, additional, Polishing eect ineiiotjeii ley. odditionol ereasoutiined by Y dotted; lines. titl and QL. In.- this. Cosethe points 92', enit 9,3. et greatest polishingaction one a little, less, .then ttnioe, es; for fronithe bose line es the'points and 95, where theseereos etoss the. side. lines; ofv the sheet.,- YIt, will. he eeedily sproeien-t, lio-weven, that, this fir-- eeingement of' renners,- still resnits, in o. geest deel inoie, needless polishing thon the on eengenient shown in Eig.. 6,

In the eriengeinent showin ,in .Fis-. @there are diagrammatcally indiozitegd runners 96 and 97 which produce a polishing action ndieeteel; by the shaded, eres ,228-, While this tetten otinngeinent of thnnthnt shown- Figi 7,.l it eesnlts innoh more nseless Polishing thon the orisngeinent shown .ligfi'- .11h/e fedeli-tion. of' onotheninnner 9%-, indiented in vdotted lines on Fg- 8, Wonlol nel@ the Polishing eifeetinelioo-ted bythe eten siieionniifetl ley dotted line 1.0i) in thot. figure, lit. ,neil-.i he notedathnt this nti'ditionnl polishigonltl be.- enfoiieelyY Wostede The.1 onrengeinentshoten in Fig- 9, Wheiein oneY lergepolishing 1.01 is used in the (sentori of the,v shootl and two smaller-@polishing runners 102, 103 aro-used ontlio edges would gestillt in, s polishing ezfoct indicated, by the shdodarozi 104;. The indications asto eioo- 'tiveness ot. the-` polishing-notion losing-I the sani@t as in the other igiires, flirt-hor descriptionneetl. not heI inode.

'line Yontengono..ents of polishing runners shown in the four figures would have approximately the polishing eii'ect shownV in the relative shaded areas in the `several figures. It will be readilyunderstood that the rapidity of movement of the glass will be dependent upon the polishing effect at the least polished portions of the sheet, which are the edges in each of the examples given above. Therefore, the relative speed at lwhich'the sheet may be moved with the different arrangements of runners is roughly indicated by the distance between the base line Ain the respective ligures and` the line in Fig. 6, line in Fig. 7 and the line l106 in Fig. 8, and the line 107 in Fig. 9. The result is that the arrangement shown in Fig. 6 not only results in much less waste ofpower to produce the necessary polishing, but it also enables the sheet to be moved at a faster rate, or what amounts to the same thing, to be satisfactorily polished byv apparatus operating upon a shorter length'of the sheet.

It Will be noted that the runners are given motion both transversely and longitudinally of the glass sheet. This is desirable fortwo reasons, first, because it results in greater travel of the runners and more rubbing action, second, because it moves the runners in constantly changing paths and tends 'to make the rubbing action more uniform.

While the apparatusl has been described throughout as intended for polishing glass, and it is specially designed for that' purpose, it might be used under appropriate circumstances to polish other materials, and some features of the invention are applicable to grinding as well as polishingoperations.

While I have shown in some'detail 'one form of my invention, and have indicated some ways vin' which some features of the invention may be modified, it will be understood that other changes may be made within the scope of my invention as defined' in the appended claims. f f

lVhat I claim is:

1. In apparatus for polishing sheet glass, means for moving a glass sheet longitudinally, a carrier arranged transversely above the path of the glass, means to move the carrier transversely of the glass, vertical shafts mounted rotatably and slidably in said carrier, polishing runners on the lower ends of said shafts in position to Vbear uponthe surface of glass beneath the carrier, and weights on the upper ends of the shafts,- each of said weights being substantially equal to the associated runner, and the distance 0f weight and runner from the bearing in the carrier being substantially equal.

2. In apparatus of the character described, means for moving a glass sheet longitudinally, a series of pairs of tool carriers arranged transversely above the path, of the glass, means at one end of each carrier for moving said carrier transversely of the glass, alternate'carriers nbeing driven from opposite ends, and the carriers which are driven from Vthe same end beingy divided into adjacent pairs, each pair being operatedby a separate 'source of'fpower andin opposite directions. In apparatus of the character described, means for moving a glass'sheet longitudinally, a series of carriers arranged trans'- versely of and'faboxvethe path of the glass,

a series of polishing ltools "carried each carrier, eachtool being carried byv an independently rotatable vertical shaft having a counterbalancing' weight abovev v'the' fcarrier,

a slide for one end ofeach carrierfmeans to 4. In apparatus of the character described,

means to move a glass sheet'longitudinally, alpipeV arranged transversely of and above the path of the glass, discharging nozzles along the pipe `above the path of the glass,

means to reciprocate the pipe longitudinally,

one end of the pipe being closed, a supply connection at the other end of the pipe, and a check valve between ,the pipe and its supply connection admitting material from the supply to the pipe but preventing its return .lo

from the pipe to the supply, wherebythe momentum of liquid in the pipe imparts hydraulic pressure to force material from the nozzles at each reversion of longitudinal movement of, the pipe. 5. YIn apparatus of, the 'character described, means'for supporting a glass: sheet, an elongated,carrier'positioned `above the plane ofthe sheet, tools mounted on the carrier, a pipe mounted on the carrier having a 1.10

series of discharge openings along its under side directedv toward the glass, a supply connection atone endofther pipe, a check valve between the pipe and its supply connection admitting material to the pipe and prevent- 'ing its return flow to the supply, 'andmeans for reciprocatingthe carrier longitudinally whereby the momentum of liquid in the pipe imparts'hydraulic pressure to force material from the discharge openings at each reversion of longitudinal movement of the pipe. 1

6. In apparatus of the character described, means forsupporting a glass sheet, an elongated carrier positioned above the sheet, a slide at one end of the carrier restraining that end of the carrier to a linear motion in a direction transverse Vof the sheet, means to` move the other end of the carrier in a horizontal circle, tools carried by the carrier in Aposition to contact the glass, Aa A pipe carried bythe :carrier and having a 

